


As if by chance.

by ZestTheGriffin



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Yakuza, Assassins & Hitmen, Blood, Chance Meetings, Explicit Language, First Meetings, M/M, Murder, Nagisa is a mood, Origin Story, Original Character Death(s), Other, Swearing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-06-28
Updated: 2019-06-28
Packaged: 2020-05-28 16:41:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,604
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19398190
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ZestTheGriffin/pseuds/ZestTheGriffin
Summary: 18-year-old Rei Ryugazaki accepts a very strange assassination mission requested by a strange client. Little did he know, it would lead him to the person who would change his life forever...





	As if by chance.

**Author's Note:**

> Zest's Notes: Hi guys! Before reading, just know that this fic takes place a year before the main story of this AU. I wanted to establish the relationship between Rei and Iwatobi and how in the heck they met in this Yakuza/Mafia story! I hope all of you guys enjoy this! Art was made by me!

****

The usual set up; Mounting the bipod; adjusting the reticle; tightening the eye relief; loading the bullets. Rei Ryugazaki had been a professional sniper for around 5 years and nothing was prepared without intensive thought and process. With help from his late mentor, he had found a living by being a hitman, committing bloody acts for people who had grudges against each other. _He cared once, he’s not so affected now._

Peering out of a small window of an abandoned one bedroom apartment, the boy steadied his weapon in the direction of a large glass building that stood before him. Displayed on the glass was the name ‘Ikiru’ which was the company his client had chosen to target. Tonight, it was his job to find and assassinate the boss of the Ikiru company, Kouji Kiru. With a clack of his tongue he gazed at his digital watch which presented the time of 6:51PM, nine minutes before the conference talk. Then and only then, he had only moments to perform his act and get out of sight. According to the note the client gave, Kouji should be a man in his late 30’s with piercings and slicked back, blond hair. Not the best description but as this was common in this field and Rei knew what he was doing. Adjusting the collar of his black turtleneck shirt, he stepped up to his gun and peered into the sniper sight. This allowed his observation to be more clear and precise, magnifying the view in front of him. With the twist of the telescope, the boy was then allowed to view deeper into the glass of the building, and he watched the heads of the guests bobbing and talking amongst each other. 

As expected, the host was having a party with his customers and consumers, ready to explain his company’s next move within their multi-million Yen Real Estate company. This was a party, full of drunkards, dancers and people who are interested in making life miserable for indigent Japanese citizens. _Truely a horrible sight..._ With a dissatisfied grunt, Rei searched for his target before he was to make a speech on the small but spectacularly decorated stage. His lips quirked up as he noticed that the party consisted of multiple strobe lights, therefore his sniper lazer would not be seen by the unknowing attendees. 

“Now, where are you, Kouji-san…?” The glassed boy whispered to himself, gazing into the reticle. On further inspection, Rei noticed how every single party-goer had a black, masquerade mask on their face. Now, this meant identifying a person, who would fit this criteria, to be more difficult than expected. Nevertheless, Rei knew to read facial expressions and social constructs to weed out the victim; He should be within a large group, mingling with guests, possibly drinking himself. Using these ideas, he searched amongst the bustle in the large room, guiding his reticle across all of the heads in the room. He was looking for a blond… A blonde woman… A man with long blond hair… A blond- 

He felt his heart race when there, directly in his eye-line was a man with blonde hair. It was combed back into a small little ponytail. The side of his head was shaved slightly with a small wave to his hairline, dividing the thicker hair to the cut. His back was turned to Rei as he talked to a taller man with muddy brown hair. He watched as the taller man, wearing a green tie, rolled his eyes and began to walk away annoyed. The blonde’s shoulders in his tight pink waistcoat shook in a way to signify that he was laughing. As he did this, Rei squinted behind his glasses to identify if this man was his victim. As far as he could see, the subject of his gaze did not have piercings. If only he was to turn around and give Rei a better look.

“Oh, shit!?” Rei exclaimed as he watched the blonde, masked boy turn around. Not only turning around but looking directly at him, glancing up at the small red dot on his forehead. His blood ran cold as he saw the lips of the boy turn up, laughing at him. Rei couldn’t believe this. _Was his position compromised?_ He gulped, watching how the blonde took out a fist and stuck his thumb out, casting it out to the right of him as a gesture. Shaking it slightly, as a way of telling Rei to look that way, he slips out of focus behind another taller man. Confused, he took his gaze to the direction where the mysterious boy was pointing to. His eyes widened as he saw him. A man with short, slicked back hair, piercings in his ear, definitely his victim’s age range, was talking to a manager of some sort.

_BEEP!_ The watch on his wrist beeped to inform him that it was now 7pm. The time of the presentation. It was now up to Rei. Kill Kouji before, during or after the speech. As he had been surprised by the other blonde’s actions he decided that it was now or never. Training the laser on the man, he watched how he happily walked on to the stage, licking up the praises from the crowd below. Rei sighed, he looked like a jerk who loved the limelight. Fingers itched their way across the trigger guard, threading through the trigger. They curled gently around the mechanism, suddenly jerking backwards to allow the gun to shoot twice. Precisely, Rei shoots the man in the stomach and also in the head. The sniper watches how he staggered back and falls to the floor in a small pool of his own blood. His eyes were open in shock as he chokes on the red liquid, trying to look for his lead bodyguards who clambered over the stage. Observing the scene and how the partygoers react, he feels like it is a good time to get the hell out of there, and fast.

He hadn’t had a request that ended like this before, and this had shaken him up. He took his gun from the edge and placed it on the floor, wiping the sweat from his forehead with his fingerless gloves. He throws the black hat that he was wearing inside the guitar case that he also stored his sniper rifle in. Quickly but sloppily placing his pieces of gun inside the storage carrier, he checked if he had everything before zipping it up and ran out of the door. Doing the opposite as he did to get inside the apartment, he used his trinket on his key chain to lock the door and make sure no-one could retrace his steps. With as fast as his legs could take him, he ran to the elevator. As he saw that there was a person inside, he slowed down and entered calmly. 

There was an old woman inside it. Giving her a soft smile as he entered, he bowed slightly to her acquaintance. Her smile widened and she clutched her purse firmly. The soft melody of the elevator music filled Rei’s ears as he awkwardly stood in the small box with this other person. He tried his best to not cold sweat as he could feel her eyes looking at him. To Rei’s relief, she gets out on the 10th floor, allowing Rei to quickly press the ground level before anyone called the machine. There’s a girl on her phone and two people talking to each other as he reached the bottom floor. Without taking much notice of him, Rei slipped away, out to the direction of the back door. 

He breathed out a steady breath as he finally got out of eye view. He was safe. _Or so it would seem…_

"Hope this pays, mom..." 

Disposing of his gloves, he began walking out to the back streets. He pulled out his phone, checking his bank statement and pinpointed the time 6,000,000¥ was transferred from his client. Feeling the corners of his cheeks turn up, he hummed happily glad he could have been of service. 

“You were lucky, y’know?” 

A voice creeped out of the dark of the shadowed evening. Rei’s head swung around to see a young man tossing something black into a bin. The blue haired boy’s voice hitched as his eyes widened, realising who he was looking at. The blonde who helped him earlier was smiling smugly at him, but this time, his big magenta eyes watched his every move. Trying to act casual, Rei slipped his phone into his pocket, frowning.  
  
“I’m sorry? Have we met before?” He asked politely, studying the freckled face of the other, noticing the scar on his left eyebrow. 

“Mm? Oh, haha, not officially! But I guess we have… Hey do you play an instrument~?” The blonde giggled, skipping over to Rei. He stared at the guitar case, turning his head inquisitively. 

“Oh… Only guitar. I’m a busker!” Rei lied attentively, carefully watching the other’s movements. The blond raised his brows and stuck out his bottom lip, nodding his head. “I-If you’d excuse me, I have to attend a show tonight-” He added, stepping away from the boy and walked in the other direction.  
  
“Huh, I thought you were going the other way? You don’t wanna talk to me that’s it huh?” The other followed behind. Rei stayed silent. “No I get it, I can be annoying at times, yeah…” 

“Yeah…” Rei sniffed, walking on. He didn’t realise but the other had stopped and was folding his arms. 

“I mean I’d be walking if my shooting was that shit too…”

This one phrase stopped Rei dead in his tracks. “E-Excuse me?”. _What cheek! Does he even have a right to say?!_

“The reticle shouldn’t be pointed at ALL the blondes you see y’know?” The other huffed, scrunching his nose to show his disgust. Rei frowned deeply, now fully turned to face the other, hands clenched. 

_How did he know!?_ He was right though… Was it that obvious? He was lucky he wasn’t caught by anyone except from this boy. Blushing slightly, Rei shook his head, grabbing the strap of the guitar case. This all made him confused.

“...What…?” Was the only word that was whispered out of Rei’s mouth. 

The other laughed loudly, holding onto his stomach. Rei couldn’t look away, the red eyes of the other intoxicating him. The blonde finally stopped laughing when he walked up to the blue haired boy. That big smile was looking up at him and he saw the freckles his cheeks more clearly. 

"Haha! Listen, pretty boy, I can make you a deal~" He smirked up at Rei, rocking on his heels. 

Rei raised his brows, embarrassed at the sudden nickname the blonde had just given him. Didn't this guy know anything about personal boundaries either… _Why was he so close!?_

"So me and my friends are currently looking for a skilled sniper… My boss saw how you were able to shoot that weird dude in some of the most fatal places with ease." The blonde mimicked a gun pretending to fire. He pointed his index finger at Rei.

"So we're offering you a position." The blonde spoke, slipping out a playing card from his pocket, looking and playing with it between his fingers/.

Rei's eyes widened. A chance to work with a group? He scoffed. 

"Sorry… I don't work with groups…" His lips moved without thinking.

This is when the tone changed. The other's eyes flashed up to him in disgust. Rei watched how the boy crumpled up the card and threw it on the floor. There was silence, the sound of cars filling the background with noise. 

"Let me rephrase. You **need** us. You don't think the fuzz, murder invesigators and the paps will be on this case? I thought a professional sniper was supposed to be at least strategic!" The blonde argued, taking a step up to Rei pointing at his chest. 

Rei was used to these kinds of threats, it was the hard part about being a sniper. This client was an unusual one, however, all of his other requestors wanted their target to be eliminated on their own, perhaps even in their own home! Something wasn't right…

"Oh, be quiet for a second! Before I begin signing up for anything… Answer me this!" The blue haired teen smacked the blonde's hand away from him. 

The other boy just pouted and stared at the other whilst tapping his foot. "Give me your question?"

Pushing up his glasses, Rei pressed his thumb and forefinger to his chin, pondering his thoughts. As he was doing this, a police officer with a dog began to walk down the alley.

"Oh fuck! Come with me-" The other said, grabbing Rei tightly by the hand. "Even if you don't join us, I gotta at least tell you my name!" 

He pulled the taller boy along the back alleys. No matter how much Rei tried to pull away, the blonde would not let go. "The name's Hazuki, Hazuki Nagisa! Nice to meet cha!" The boy's lip curled up in a cheeky fashion.

Hiding behind a wall, a block away from where they were standing, Nagisa pushed Rei to a wall and told him to be quiet. Apart from that one boy he made friends with at his old dojo, and all the 'clients' who remained anonymous, Rei had not been accustomed for others to tell him their name. Something made Rei feel happy and warm about this, right even. When Nagisa gave the okay, he stepped back, watching the taller boy carefully.

"Aren't you gonna tell me your name? I just saved you, y'know!" The blonde complained, folding his arms.

"You didn't 'save' me…" Rei muttered. "But very well: My name is Ryugazaki Rei! Um...Hazuki-kun, was it?" 

Watching how Nagisa's eyes sparkled with joy, nodding, Rei smiled slightly returning to focus. He was about to ask Nagisa a question. 

"As I was about to say before we were interrupted." Rei paused. "How did you know I was specifically looking for Kouji-san?" 

"Ohhh!" Nagisa gasped. "That's an easy question! I dunno if I should be telling you or not but-"

Nagisa began to explain that he and his 'friends' had the job to make sure that Kouji was dead. They also had been told that a sniper was also being sent, which, by now, Nagisa can confirm that Rei was his sniper. His job was to kill him in case Rei was unsuccessful or too late. 

"We got paid for our trouble at least, so that's good!" Nagisa giggled.

The taller boy frowned. First, the client ordered Rei to kill this man in front of a crowd, but also hires a group to kill this man too.

"Overkill…?" Rei whispered. 

"Sorry?" Nagisa frowned and looked up at Rei intuitively.

"Sending a trained hitman and a group of… Whatever you are, to kill one man who sells crappy housing? Isn't that just overkill?" 

Nagisa raised his brow, confused. Seeing this, Rei frowned and grunted with a roll of his eyes. 

"Well, you'd expect the victim to be part of an organisation, like a crime gang or some sort. Especially if he was getting swarmed like that!" He explained to the other. 

Nagisa placed his hands on his hips. "Well… We don't really think he was anyone of major importance. Yeah he was a scammer but-" He gets interrupted by Rei staggering back slightly. 

"You're… you're part of one of those murder clans… one of those crime groups!" He shouted. 

Without a sound, Nagisa pinned Rei to the wall, covering his mouth. Despite the small stature of the blonde, Rei was surely unable to move, the shock of the swift action sending shivers through him.

"ARE YOU CRAZY?" Nagisa hissed, speaking through his gritted teeth. "You asshole, do you want us both to get arrested?!" 

Rei shook his head, making Nagisa let go of him. The blue haired boy gasped and coughed out feeling the back of his head. 

"You're not any better, Rei-chan…" The blonde mumbled, looking away from Rei.

He's right. He's no better. Perhaps even worse! Killing people for a living is an awful job to begin with. But Rei had always done it for the money. _Always._

Patting all the dust away from himself, Rei looked towards Nagisa and flushed. Hearing his name be spoken like that made his heart race. His thoughts fill him: the possibility he could be arrested, Nagisa and his potential crime syndicate and the strange client. 

"Look, we just needed the money." Nagisa spoke out, staring into the other's eyes. 

It was distinctive and passionate. For a member of a crime gang, he did surely sound desperate. Rei remembered when he was just the same, visiting black markets and websites to get a hit. He couldn’t help but feel a little sorry for the blonde. 

"Look, I-I can understand…" Rei reassured, grasping the straps of his guitar case. He tuts, pacing a little. "But nevermind that! Something about this still doesn't check with me!" 

Nagisa's lips quirked in interest. Rei was thankful this boy gave him the time of day. 

"Our client knew that one of us was going to fail. They enlisted you and your friends to do the dirty work if I was to be found out or did a botch shot!" Rei explained. “I should have realised that my objective was unachievable from the moment I knew I’d have multiple witnesses...” 

The blue haired boy clutched his hair in worry, the realisation sinking in. Nagisa blew air out of his nose, raising a brow. He still doesn’t understand.

“Well, you could have just stopped? We could have killed the fucker after the meeting. That’s what I meant by being _strategic-”_ The blonde huffed.

“No! Be quiet about that! Did you not see the multiple guards around the stage? Did you not see the bodyguards standing behind Kouji-san? If you were to try anything like that you would have been caught immediately!” 

The blue haired boy cracked it. Nagisa’s eyes widened, frowning deeply with a look of worry on his face. He dragged his gloved hand through his blonde locks. 

“Shit…” He mumbled. “We were told there were no bodyguards!” 

Rei’s face dropped to a look that was shocked. He couldn’t believe it! The man he was working with was aiming to criminalise one or the other. By the looks of it, the police knew the exact building the shooting had taken place. Rei gulped when he remembered something.

“Hazuki-kun… Did-did you remember to pick up your playing card when we left?” He asked.

Nagisa patted his pockets and clenched his teeth muttering a “Fuck” under his breath. The truth was, in the rush he’d forgotten to pick it up, no doubt, the police dog had found it by now. There was no point in going back for it. Rei’s act framed by Nagisa’s careless actions. Now both of the groups were possibly cohorts.

“Haru-chan’s gonna kill me…!” The blonde muttered to himself, scratching his head.

The boy with glasses gazed upon the other, frowning. What turned out to be a recruitment offer turned into something far worse. Rei couldn’t help but feel guilty for this situation. Why did he feel this way? Something about Nagisa intrigued him so. Perhaps it would be a good idea if he was to join their group, for Nagisa’s sake.

“...Is your offer still open…?” Rei asked, breaking up the silence. 

“Of course it’s still fucking open!” Nagisa snapped, sighing and staring at the taller boy. 

Nagisa was clearly stressed, his eyes stared at Rei widely. Taking out a shaky hand, the blue haired boy placed his palm on the other’s shoulder. He watched how the red eyes of Nagisa’s stared up at him in confusion. His cheeks reddened slightly as he froze instantly with Rei’s touch. 

“Well… Since we're now in this together, I guess I have no choice but to join you." Rei smiled reassuring the blonde. 

Nagisa hadn't spoken or moved since the point Rei had placed a hand on him. He glanced over to see the hand on his shoulder, calming him almost instantly. He'd never felt such power through something so little like a touch. Gently, Nagisa took Rei's hand off his shoulder and grasped it tightly, shaking it in a formal gesture.

"H-hah… Glad you could come to your senses, Rei-chan!" Nagisa smirked again in his usual fashion.

Hearing that nickname again made Rei feel weird. He was not sure if he liked it or not…

"Please don't call me that!"

"Awh? Why not! It isn't gonna kill you y'know?" Nagisa rebutted, letting go of Rei's hand. 

Rei's lips turned up smiling at the other. For some reason, this stranger was able to put a smile on his face, yet they had only talked for a short while. He even nearly forgot that he had just signed himself up to be part of a crime syndicate…What was his motive for doing so? He loved working on his own despite the costs and bloody work. However, the blonde was right, Rei needed at least a helping hand and, by the looks of it, Nagisa's group needed him. 

“Well… I guess we better get out of here, don’t you think partner~?” The smaller boy chuckled, skipping off into the depths of the back street, splashing through puddles and rubbish. With a scoff, Rei pulled up his bag on his back and followed the other into the unknown...


End file.
